Press conference, Fairfield West, New South Wales

CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Thanks for coming out, everyone. As you know, I try and daily update Australians on the situation with fuel supply, and obviously, we've seen some encouraging developments overseas, but still a long way to go to ensure security, when it comes to the flow of oil and other goods through the Straits of Hormuz, but we're very actively working.

Yesterday, the PM and I announced that we’ve reached agreement with Viva and Ampol in relation to Export Finance Australia supporting – to purchase of spot cargoes into Australia. That’s good progress, and there’ll be more progress over the weekend with other companies. I’m sure we’ll make further announcements about that, and of course the PM as we speak is in Singapore cementing the arrangements he’d already put in place with Prime Minister Wong, which is a very good thing.

Also want to update Australians, as I try to do every day, on the service station situation and again, good progress being made. Today in New South Wales, we have fewer than 100 service stations without diesel – that’s 97 service stations out of the 2400 service stations we have in New South Wales. That’s 4 per cent of service stations without diesel, 19 without any form of fuel – that’s down five on yesterday’s figures.

Victoria, 41 with no diesel, that's down two, with 27 with no unleaded petrol. Queensland, 28 with no diesel, 19 with no regular unleaded. South Australia, nine with no diesel, eight unleaded.

Western Australia, seven with no diesel and 17 without any unleaded. Tasmania, six with no diesel and five with no unleaded. Northern Territory, four with no diesel, two with no unleaded.

ACT, no outages. That brings us to 192 service stations across Australia out of the 7940 without diesel – that's 2.4 per cent of our service stations. A lot of people working very hard to get that figure down to zero.

We're still seeing very high demand for diesel in particular in the regions, and a lot of people working hard to keep up that supply – and including to our farmers, with farmers particularly in New South Wales being prioritised for direct deliveries so that they can keep up the sowing and seeding they need to do to ensure ongoing food supply for us in the coming weeks and months.

So, that's today's update in terms of progress. Obviously, on Saturdays, as you know, I give the fuller update about our stock holdings, about the ships on the way to Australia. And I'll be doing that tomorrow in the normal fashion, weekly, to give Australians really that higher degree of visibility than they normally have just to how much fuel we have on hand and how the fuel supplies are going to Australia.

I’ll do that tomorrow, and you’ll all be very welcome at that press conference to give that fuller update. Happy to take questions in the meantime. JOURNALIST: Minister, how can households and businesses have confidence in a renewables-heavy energy grid when companies like ZEN Energy are being left exposed to price shocks and when the wind doesn't blow?

Well, I mean, ZEN Energy's commercial arrangements are a matter for them. What we're seeing is very significant take-up of renewable energy. That's a good thing for emissions, it's a good thing for affordability, and it's a good thing for reliability.

One of the reasons we're better supported for this international energy shock, for example, is the fact that we are using a lot less gas in Australia than we were even three years ago. That's a good thing. And we're seeing in the draft Default Market Offer reductions in energy prices.

That's no coincidence that it coincides with renewables hitting 50 per cent last quarter, in the last quarter of last year. That's a good thing. Renewables, properly supported through storage and transmission, makes our grid more reliable, not less reliable, cheaper, not more expensive, and of course lower emissions.

JOURNALIST: Minister, what allocation framework will be implemented if supply tightens, and at what trigger point will this happen? Well, the states and the Commonwealth agreed on those three stages. As you know, we're at stage two.

Stage three would only be triggered if there's an interruption to supply, which we have not yet experienced. And of course, work continues on prudent contingency planning should the international situation get worse. The stage four document that was released makes clear prioritisation for emergency services as you'd expect, but we are a long way from that.

I'm pleased with the supply into Australia at this point. A lot of people working very, very hard to minimise disruption. That's a good thing.

But of course, prudent, sensible, contingency to planning should the international situation get worse, or supply be further impacted in relation to Australia. JOURNALIST: That export finance deal yesterday, can you give us the indication of exactly how much extra fuel will be bought under that? Well, EFA will update their public register every time that they do a transaction and that will be on the gazette, and obviously I'll give updates too in my very regular press conferences.

What we did yesterday was announce basically the deal with Viva and Ampol so that when they see a spot cargo come up, they can go and secure it. Basically, the arrangement's already locked in with the EFA. Those spot cargoes come up at very short notice.

They can be available for hours – you know, that a ship becomes available for sale, maybe in Korea or Malaysia, and companies have two or three hours to decide whether to buy it. We want them to have the flexibility to go and get that fuel for Australia and for Australians. I think the events in the last 24 hours have shown that this arrangement is even more important, because the oil price is moving around so much, right.

So, therefore, it's a riskier proposition for the oil companies, to be fair to them, to go and buy that fuel, maybe much more expensive than it has been, will be much more expensive than it has been, but maybe the oil price is going to come down further. So, it really gives them that arrangements – that flexibility. As and when those ships are purchased, it'll be public and we'll give updates then.

JOURNALIST: Minister, does Australia have a position on whether our fuel supply chain should involve payments to secure passage through the Strait, particularly if that means tolls flowing to entities like the IRGC? I’ll refer you to Minister Wong's comments and Minister Marles' comments. We want to see the Strait of Hormuz free, freedom of movement.

Obviously, that's what we want to see. We are not central players in the arrangement between the US and Iran. The discussions are going on, but we want to see the Strait of Hormuz have free passage of movement.

JOURNALIST: A hearing is underway at the Fair Work Commission in Sydney. What are you hoping will come out of it? I'll leave Minister Rishworth to comment further on that, but we want to see everyone treated fairly.

JOURNALIST: And civil contractors are really concerned about rising input costs, the kind of impact that's having on their rising costs. Can the Federal Government look at some way of offsetting this somehow? Well, look, increased fuel costs are going to impact, obviously, civil construction, tourism.

Hardly anyone's exempt or immune from the impacts. That's why we've done the sorts of things we've done, the levers we've pulled, especially the excise cut and the heavy vehicle user charge, because that flows through to the supermarkets, to everything that's delivered in a truck. That's a good thing.

Now, of course, the Treasury and the Treasurer will continue to look at what other options are available should this situation continue and – or worsen. We want to see Australian industry strong, but we've always recognised that fuel will have an impact on the entire supply chain. That's why we've taken the sorts of actions that we have taken, and we'll always consider what more needs to be done.

JOURNALIST: Minister, after Wednesday's interaction at the press conference, have you accepted a one-on-one interview with Liam Bartlett? No. Look, Mr Bartlett's entitled to come to any press conference I hold, and as long as he treats his colleagues like you with respect, I'll treat him with respect.

He didn't do that on Wednesday, that's a matter for him. One of the good things about a democracy is that people can put to air whatever they wish. Clearly, 's doing a story on renewable energy.

I don't expect it to be fair and balanced. I think that was shown by his questions and his comments on Wednesday. He's entitled to do that.

Another part of the democracy is I can choose which media I interact with. I don't choose to interact with . I'll always interact with serious shows and serious journalists. is not one of them.

JOURNALIST: Serious shows? Serious shows and serious journalists, and isn't one of them. Anything else?

JOURNALIST: Do you have any data or indication of the uptake of public transport in places like Sydney, elsewhere? I've seen reports from state governments that public transport uptake is up, but state ministers are a better placed to give those indications. Alrighty – thanks all.

Cheers. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.